In many network implementations, Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS) is used to provide a robust connection between two points. A ring may be embodied as at least two nodes such that each node includes at least two independent ports connected to neighboring nodes of the ring. In advance of any failures, one link of the ring is provisioned as the Ring Protection Link (RPL) and one port on that link is provisioned as the RPL Owner. In operation, the blocking port sends a Continuity Check Message around the ring back to itself, or alternately relies on what are called APS messages from neighboring nodes to detect a failure elsewhere on the ring. In either case, when the RPL owner detects that the rest of the ring is not healthy because another link on the ring is blocked, the RPL owner responds by unblocking the RPL and allowing traffic through (usually within 50 ms). For example, in an optical network a failure condition may occur because two ports of two other nodes detect that light between them has been disrupted due to a fiber cut and both of those ports will enter a blocked state pointing at one another. In other cases, the failure could be due to a hardware failure on one end of a connection between two nodes of the ring. When the error condition is resolved, the RPL Owner will detect that the ring is healthy and will start a Wait To Restore (WTR) countdown. When the WTR expires (usually after counting down for 5 minutes), the RPL owner will block the RPL and the nodes adjacent to the previously broken link will unblock.
An ERPS may be very complex and many rings may implement a connection between any two nodes of a network. Accordingly, visualizing a connection between any two nodes may be very complex inasmuch as there are multiple possible paths. Tools have been used to visualize point-to-point connections, such as trail analyzers. However, these tools do not have the capability to provide the same convenience and ease of representation for portions of networks including an ERPS.
The systems and methods described herein provide an improved approach for visualizing networks including an ERPS.